The Helmand blog is run by PJHQ and the team from UK Forces Media Ops. The team is located in Northwood in the UK and in Helmand at Camp Bastion and the Task Force Headquarters and works to support the coalition forces together with the other government departments such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.
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Sunday, November 8, 2009

British Army commander Lieutenant Colonel Roly Walker has spoken of the "monstrous" and "treacherous" act carried out by a rogue Afghan policemen who killed five of his men.

Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent in Nad-e'Ali, Helmand

The commanding officer of the 1st battalion Grenadier Guards, said that the dead soldiers would never be forgotten.

But the colonel said that it was vital that the deaths did not "drive a wedge" between the Afghan police and his men who would continue to take the fight to the Taliban.

Sgt Maj Darren Chat, 39, Sgt Matthew Telford, 39, Guardsman James Major, 18, together with Royal Military Police Corporals Steven Boote, 22, and Nicholas Webster, 24, all died last Tuesday after being shot dead inside an Afghan Police Compound known as Blue 25. A further six were injured in the attack.

Col Walker said the killing of his regimental sergeant major had left the unit bereft of its finest soldier but added that morale within his unit remained high.

"Sergeant Major Darren 'Daz' Chant was the living embodiment of the professional soldier," Col. Walker said.

"He died with his boots on. If he could have chosen the way he had to die on operations – that would have been it, on the ground, working with soldiers, doing the job he loved."

He added: "We will remember them all and we will mourn them properly when we return to the UK but right now we have to continue with the mission – the Sgt Maj would not have wanted it any other way."